Cheese, wine, chocolate, a roaring fire and snow outside. Three out of four will have to do, since the view out of my window is currently one of grey and uninspiring drizzle. That said, the amount of water coming in through our cough-“conservatory” does make me wonder if it could actually cope with snow. If you hear a crash coming from North London and see a mushroom cloud of icing sugar go up, then consider that a call to come and rescue me.

Right. On to warmer, tastier matters…

Stilton Spoons

Stilton spoons

I made two versions of these. The creamy Quark version is slightly easier to eat in company and standing up.

The night before (or several days if you have time) soak chopped dried fruits of your choice in sherry, 1/2tsp cinnamon, pinch allspice, pinch nutmeg. You want enough sherry to cover the fruit. Drain off any liquid before using. Obviously the number of canapés you are making will affect the amount of fruit. You won’t want much.

Chop stilton up finely and mix with the Quark. I would use equal amounts of Quark and Stilton. It will look better the smoother the mixture is, so if you have time then blend or mash it up, but that depends on your timetable.
Fill the spoons with the mixture and top with cranberries.

Huw F-W has thoroughly educated the country in the ways of beetroot and chocolate. So, whilst these little beetroot cups don’t have a very distinct flavour and could happily carry almost anything in them, I have put some gooey under-baked brownie in their middles. I used the Hellmans mayo-brownie recipe.
I have topped them with vanilla greek yoghurt (for tang) and sprinkled some beetroot powder to give them an extra beetrooty boost. I bought the powder from Spice Mountain in Borough market.